US Court Dismisses Coinbase User’s IRS Summons Challenge

• The ruling is grounded on federal civil procedure rules, where defendants must be officially notified of lawsuits.
• In 2025, one more Coinbase user, named James Harper, claimed the IRS breached his Fourth Amendment rights after a John Doe summons was used to get his data.

A user of Coinbase who attempted to block an IRS summons for his financial records got blocked by a California court. 

As per the information from PACER, Roger Metz filed a petition in the Northern District of California in May 2025 to cancel an IRS summons that looked for his financial records in connection with an audit of his 2022 tax return. 

The case of the petitioner was based on the argument that the summons breached his privacy rights and was overinclusive. His lawyers had also claimed that he had recognised the error himself and had filed an amended return and paid the additional tax, but that did not help to stop the IRS action. 

Although US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin ruled against the petitioner on March 18 after finding that he did not become involved in notifying all needed government parties within the 90-day window. The judge has expelled the case on procedural grounds. 

The Grounds of The Ruling 

The ruling is grounded on federal civil procedure rules, where defendants must be officially notified of lawsuits to make sure they get notice and the opportunity to reply. Court documents suggest Metz had worked for the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the IRS but did not notify the US Attorney General in Washington. 

As per the government lawyers, this was enough for dismissal. The ruling by Judge Martinez-Olguin mentions that in his opposition brief, Metz does not provide any explanation for his failure to serve the US within 90 days after filing his petition. 

In 2025, one more Coinbase user, named James Harper, claimed the IRS breached his Fourth Amendment rights after a John Doe summons was used to get his data from a crypto exchange. 

The court, although it was on the IRS’s side, dismissed hearing his case. The result reinforces the IRS’s authority to get user financial records from centralised crypto exchanges. 

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